When the New York Jets pushed Tim Tebow overboard sans parachute earlier this week, the quarterback had no shortage of suitors. None of them were with NFL teams, which all seem to have concluded that his miraculous 2011 season was a fluke and that he's not very good, but they were at least pigskin-related. The Lingerie Football League offered to take him on as a quarterbacks coach. If Tebow still thinks he can play at the professional level, the Omaha Beef of the Champions Professional Indoor Football League are offering $75 per game.
That's gotta sting for a guy who just last year commanded more than $1 million. Tebow himself has remained silent, but Billy Back, head coach of Allen-based indoor club Texas Revolution, has taken umbrage on his behalf. "We thought the $75 offer was insulting," Back told the Morning News on Wednesday. "We could offer him $225 per game and the $25 win bonus."
Assuming the Revolution win all 16 regular season games, that comes to a not-at-all-insulting annual salary of $4,000, or roughly the equivalent of running a small neighborhood lemonade stand, part-time.
But even Back makes clear he isn't terribly excited about Tebow's football skills. "What he says and the way he acts is more powerful than his play," he told the News, adding that his public pronouncements of faith would go over very well on family nights. Essentially, Tebow would become a muscular, Jesus-quoting mascot.
Tebow's no doubt in a dark place right now as he watches his NFL dreams collapse before his eyes, but we urge him to think twice about accepting the Revolution's offer. It may seem tempting, and it has the added bonus of bringing him closer to BFF Robert Jeffress, but these stunts don't typically work out too well. You would be following in the footsteps of Terrell Owens, who had a painfully brief stint with the Revolution (then the Allen Wranglers) last year. And if there's one life lesson you should take to heart, it's to never, ever follow Terrell Owens into anything.
